Nonresident Hunting Closed For The Fall

Published: August - 2001

Subscribers who saw our bullish report on the black bear hunting available on Kuiu Island up in southeast Alaska (see "Kuiu Island, Alaska: A Black Bear Paradise" in the May 1999 issue, p. 6) may want to know that nonresident hunting there has been closed for this fall. The problem is an overharvest of bears, mostly by nonresidents, according to area biologist Rich Lowell. He says nonresident harvest of bears on the island has skyrocketed from 47 in the 90/91 season to 147 last year. Similar concerns about the harvest on islands throughout southeast Alaska are emerging, he said, particularly on Price of Wales Island. For the moment, though, only Kuiu Island is the subject of an emergency proclamation closing down nonresident hunting. We'll keep you posted on further developments.